Proview has been filing lawsuits aggressively against Apple in China over the past few weeks. The company claims that Apple is misusing their ‘Ipad’ trademark and has tried to get many cities to get the iPad banned. While a Shanghai court rejected a request for ban of the iPad today, many a few other ruled in Proview’s favor to ban Apple’s iPad from their city.

Tonight, the WSJ is reporting that Proview has now brought the fight to the US when it filed a lawsuit against Apple on February 17th, in Santa Clara, California…

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Santa Clara County on Feb. 17, but previously unreported, claimed that Apple had committed fraud when it used a company set up by one of its law firms, called IP Application Development Ltd., to purchase the iPad trademark from Proview on Dec. 23, 2009 for 35,000 British pounds ($55,000).

What’s Apple’s stance on the matter? An Apple spokeswoman told the WSJ that “Proview refuses to honor their agreement with Apple in China, and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter.”

In court, Proview is asking to be repaid for damages and wants to restrict Apple from using the term ‘iPad’ — a term that was put in the hands of a record 15 million people last quarter.

Earlier this week, Apple threatened Proview with a lawsuit for “damaging Apple’s reputation.”

While many Chinese cities have ordered a ban on the iPad, Chinese Customs told Proview that it would be difficult to enforce a widespread ban on the iPad throughout China. Courts in Mainland China have yet to make a ruling.

While the drama continues to unfold, it’s highly unlikely that the iPad will see a ban in the US.

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You guys are on a tear today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many posts on iDB in a single day.

http://twitter.com/JakeOSmith Jake Smith

That’s a good thing, eh?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Christer-Holm/1663777778 Christer Holm

I think they have learned from Apple, so why not try.
What had Apple done if it was vice versa.

http://twitter.com/x_rus_x Vitaliy Anonymous

Jake, you need a major fix. The last sentence. “Are you getting tired of Proview’s lawsuits against Apple?”

I think what you should write, “Apple should have expected karma to hit on the side of their head.”

Even though this is an Apple product blog, this is still news. Don’t make this a biased article. If Apple does something horrible like selling user information, and get’s sued by some corporation, would you still write the same thing?

Anonymous

Well, you really can’t expect any different from an apple fanboy.

To get to where Apple is, it has had to step on lots and lots of toes, and when someone brings the fight onto US soil, fanboys start jumping in front of the bullets as if they were getting paid to do so. This karma as stated by Vitaly, was always going to come back to bite them in the ass eventually, so this is to be expected.

Now patents are something good, but when evil corporatons, such as Apple, start abusing them expecting everyone to pay them lifelong royalties, that saying that goes “you think because you had an idea it belong to you?” comes into mind. And then, just like Apple, start tossing lawsuits left and right in an attempt to dominate and control everything and everyone around them.

Now, I do like this blog and I think the posts are good news, but when posters stop fulfilling their duty, which is being unbiassed at all times, it lowers the quality and professionalism standards everyone has come to expect from this blog.

http://twitter.com/x_rus_x Vitaliy Anonymous

Thank you!!! The whole patent system is screwed up. For example, Apple filed for a patent that allows Add, Edit, and Remove a list on a touchscreen device. List have existed thousands of years, and just because it is on a touchscreen device doesn’t make it different. Those kind of patents are what cause more and more lawsuits.

Also, a company should create a product before they can patent it. A patent for slide to unlock is too simple. I am a programmer myself, and can write that code in a few lines. And suing Samsung for that patent is really pathetic.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not an anti-Apple critic. I really enjoy using Apple products, and have gone through every generation of iPod Touch’s, using them to the full potential(jailbreak). It’s just whenever I see the word lawsuit, and then after that seeing a biased article(supporting the bully), I have to let out some steam.

http://twitter.com/oo7plasma oo7plasma

Just because you hear of so many Apple lawsuits, dont think for a second they are the only ones. Such ignorance people…

http://www.facebook.com/paul.rezendes Paul Rezendes

If you come to an Apple fan site for news, your going to get Apple news. Its as simple as that. If you look up the number of cases filed by other technology companies this month other than Apple you would be astonished at the number you see. Apple is by far the lower number here. They just make the headlines and the news agencies know that.

Everybody sues everybody for whatever they can get. *Every* company bigger than two people has a lawyer and the legal department grows as they get bigger. *Every” company protects their products every chance they get any way they can down to the smallest detail. They face off at every turn. Especially in America. Apple is no exception and probably no more litigious. If you don’t understand that you’re very naive. It’s just that the higher the profile. the more controversial, the more the more readers it will get, the more the press covers it. If Apple didn’t try to patent ‘slide to unlock’, someone else would. *That’s* why the IP system is broken and until there is fundamental reform nothing will change.